Adobe releases Arm beta version of Photoshop for Windows and macOS

Adobe is releasing Arm versions of Photoshop for Windows and macOS today. The beta releases will allow owners of a Surface Pro X or Apple’s new M1-powered MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini to run Photoshop natively on their devices. Currently, Photoshop runs emulated on Windows on ARM, or through Apple’s Rosetta translation on macOS.

Native versions of Photoshop for both Windows and macOS should greatly improve performance, just in time for Apple to release its first Arm-powered Macs. While performance might be improved, as the app is in beta there are a lot of tools missing. Features like content-aware fill, patch tool, healing brush, and many more are not available in the beta versions currently.

Adobe lists a number of known issues for both macOS and Windows, but does note that new features will be added in the weeks ahead. The beta version isn’t officially supported for daily workloads just yet, and is only accessible from the beta apps tab in the Creative Cloud desktop app. Adobe hasn’t mentioned when other Creative Cloud apps will make the transition to ARM64, but Photoshop is a big boost for Arm-powered devices.

Alongside Photoshop support, Blizzard also announced this week that World of Warcraft will run natively on Arm-powered Macs. The latest World of Warcraft includes native M1 support from day one, avoiding the Rosetta translation layer just in time for the launch of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands later this month.